Scene from a Window
by Beagairbheag
Summary: Short Persuasion story from Henrietta's point of view. I've always wondered if anyone was watching.


_I know I have a lot of stories that need finishing, but this refuses to leave me alone and I thought it better to put it out there. Hopefully it'll free up some space in my head and get everything else moving._

_This piece is based upon the BBC adaptation staring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds. Near the end, when they just stop and the world continues to revolve around them but they are so focused on each other that anything could happen and they wouldn't know…_

* * *

Henrietta watched as the door clicked shut behind Anne and her brother.

Mary and herself had returned from a spur of the moment shopping trip, taken when the rain that had pelted heavily down on the pavements that morning, had suddenly abated leaving a bright shining sun. They had found Anne waiting for them when they returned, just as they had expected but it was almost immediately apparent that something wasn't right.

She had watched as Anne sank into a near by chair, her face pale. She wasn't the only one who noticed and Anne was soon surrounded by her mother. When Anne had held her hand up to wave of the calls for a chair, Henrietta was sure she saw it shaking.

Anne had left soon after that, hurrying out of the door with Charles following closely on behind.

They could still hear them talking loudly to one another as they descended the stairs of the inn before heading out into the courtyard.

"Oh, I do hope Anne isn't coming down with something. I would hate her to be stuck upstairs when we are having a good time at the party tonight," Mrs Musgrove said as she took a seat round the table and began to sift through the boxes that the girls had placed down when they had returned.

"I'm sure it is nothing, mama," Henrietta said to her mother.

"My sister has always had a sound constitution," was all that Mary offered.

As the other two began to take lids of boxes and exclaim over the contents within, Henrietta found hers thoughts wondering to Anne and what the problem could be. She wasn't entirely sure but she had thought she had seen a crumpled up piece of paper in the other woman's closed fist.

Could she have gotten bad news?

Henrietta shook her head as she fully removed her bonnet and gloves, handing them to the maid that stood nearby. Her mother had not made mention of a note being delivered. Perhaps she had imagined it.

Standing by the window she looked out onto the street. How many people there where in Bath, she thought. Each walking down the street with a purpose. She screwed up her eyes suddenly as something caught her eye, was that Charles? Going in the opposite direction to where the Elliot's residence was? And where was Anne?

Scanning the rest of the street quickly she came to the conclusion that she wasn't there. Henrietta was sure that her brother would not go off and leave Anne all on her own, especially if she was not feeling well. There must be some reason he was now heading in the opposite direction from the one he should be and without his sister.

Dropping her eyes down, she caught sight of a very familiar hat and the man that usually occupied it. Frowning, for she knew that Captain Wentworth had been by earlier and wondered why he might still be standing outside of the White Hart.

Taking a step to the left, so that she was know leaning against the horizontal edge of the window, Henrietta felt her eyes widen in surprise as she spied the Captains companion. Though she was quite a distance away, Henrietta was sure she could see the healthy glow that now shone brightly from the woman's cheeks.

Standing by Captain Wentworth, for Henrietta was sure that neither of them had said a word in the whole time that she had been watching, Anne certainly looked better than she had only minutes ago.

For no reason, Henrietta suddenly felt her heart pick up pace. She felt as though she was watching something private, but was unable for some reason to look away.

She watched at the Captain took his hat off and walk two short steps to stand right in front of Anne. Though she couldn't see his, she had a clear view of Anne's face and never had she seen her sister in law so…love stricken. There was really no other word to describe it.

Her hand made her way to her mouth as the Captain took Anne's, delicately but firmly clasping her small one in his own, much larger gloved hand. He was talking now, and how Henrietta wished she could hear what they where saying, such romantic notions where floating round her head.

The hand at her mouth served well to stifle the gasp that stole from her body as she watched them leaned towards one another in an intimate manner. The Captains intention was clear when he tilted his head to the side and the two meet for a brief but emotion filled kiss.

As she turned away to afford them a little privacy, though Henrietta wasn't sure just how much they really had considering the whole exchange was taking place on one of the busiest streets in Bath, something inside her suddenly clicked and she felt herself suddenly come to an understanding. The looks; both cold and hot. The words; spoken in jest and hurt. They way they had acted around one another from the beginning.

She had seen them, to be sure, but in the beginning she had been caught up in her own fanciful day dreams about being the wife of a sea faring Captain to pay heed to anything that might have been going on with Anne. Then after, there had been Louisa and her accident.

Looking over her shoulder to make sure that Mary and her mother where still engrossed in the packages that they had brought back with them on their early morning shop, Henrietta turned back to look out the window and felt a smile blossom on her face.

She could not recall Anne ever looking as happy as she did now, and as she and the Captain wondered off down the now eerily quiet street, Henrietta wished them a silent good luck.

She made no mention to either of them, ever, that she had seen them that day.

It was a private moment merely seen from a window.


End file.
